Category Archives: Classical

Three Decades Of Popol Vuh. In West Germany in the early seventies, a number of groundbreaking bands were formed including one of the most important, innovative and influential bands in the history of German music, Popol Vuh. Over the next three decades Popol Vuh. established a reputation for releasing ambitious and innovative music that influenced the next generation of musicians. This was the case from the release of Popol Vuh’s 1970 debut …

Atomic-Pet Variations. Label: Odin Records. Release Date: ‘22nd’ March 2019. Eighteen years ago, Scandinavian supergroup Atomic was founded by Swedish trumpeter Magnus Broo and his fellow countryman and reed player Fredrik Ljungkvist who joined forces with Norwegian pianist Håvard Wiik, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. By then, each musician was a familiar face in their own country, but …

Michael Naura Quartett-Call. Label: MPS Records. Michael Naura was just six years old, when he first travelled to Berlin with his mother, and began a new life in the city that became his home. It was where Michael Naura studied journalism, philosophy and sociology, and played piano in a number of swing bands. However, by …

Emanative-Earth-Vinyl. Label: Jazzman Records. Three years after the release of their third album The Light Years Of The Darkness in 2015, British jazz collective Emanative return with Earth, a new album of ambitious genre-melting music. It finds Emanative channelling the spirit of Sun Ra, but also drawing inspiration from Floating Point’s unique brand if cinematic …

Craig Armstrong-Sun On You-Vinyl. Label: Decca. Over the past twenty years, Glasgow born Craig Armstrong has been one of the hardest working British composers and is the man many top film directors call when they’re looking for a score to their latest movie. This includes fellow Glaswegian Peter Mullan and Baz Luhrmann, who Craig Armstrong …

Craig Armstrong-Sun On You. Label: Decca. Over the past twenty years, Glasgow born Craig Armstrong has been one of the hardest working British composers and is the man many top film directors call when they’re looking for a score to their latest movie. This includes fellow Glaswegian Peter Mullan and Baz Luhrmann, who Craig Armstrong …

The Popol Vuh Story In West Germany in the early seventies, a number of groundbreaking bands were formed including one of the most important, innovative and influential bands in the history of German music, Popol Vuh. Over the next three decades Popol Vuh. established a reputation for releasing ambitious and innovative music that influenced the next generation of musicians. This was the case from the release of Popol Vuh’s 1970 debut album …

Arve Henriksen-The Height Of The Reeds. Label: Rune Grammofon. Originally, The Height Of The Reeds’ project was commissioned by the city of Hull, to celebrate the city being chosen as Britain´s cultural capital in 2017. This was only port of the story behind The Height Of The Reeds. It’s a culturally important commission that celebrates …

David Axelrod-Songs Of Experience. Label: Now Again Records. By 1968, composer, musicians and producer David Axelrod was just about to embark upon a solo career after nine years working in the music industry. Buoyed by the experimental climate of popular music, David Axelrod wrote and recorded what was akin to a suite-like tone poem that …

Skadedyr-Musikk! Label: Hubro Music. Release Date: ’27th’ of July 2018. Over the last few years, some of the most ambitious and innovative new music being released in Europe, has been in Norway, which has a vibrant and thriving musical community. However, this didn’t happen overnight, and instead, it took years for Norway to become home …

David Axelrod-Songs Of Innocence. Label: Now Again Records. By the time David Axelrod began work on his debut album Songs Of Innocence in 1968, the thirty-seven year arranger, composer, drummer and producer old had enjoyed a chequered career. He had started off as a boxer, before changing direction and finding work in film and …

Northaunt- Istid III. Label: Glacial Movements. Twelve years ago in 1996, Norwegian ambient composer Hærleif Langås embarked upon a new and exciting chapter in his career when he began to explore and experiment with drones, field recordings, samples and minimalistic melodic elements which he used to create soundscapes that had been inspired and influenced …

Biosphere-The Hilvarenbeek Recordings. Label: Biophon Records. Back in 2013, Geir Jenssen a.k.a. Biosphere, was invited by the organisers of the Incubate Festival in Tilburg to spend a week doing field recordings at the organic farm in Boerderij ‘t Schop in Hilvarenbeek. This was an invitation Biosphere accepted and made the journey to Hilvarenbeek, in Holland. …

Aksak Maboul-Un Peu de L’âme Des Bandits-Vinyl Reissue. Label: Crammed Discs. Nearly three years after releasing their seminal avant pop album, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine in the summer of 1977, Aksak Maboul returned with their much-anticipated 1980 sophomore album Un Peu de L’âme Des Bandits. It was the first album Aksak Maboul released …

The Best Nordic Wave Releases Of 2017-Part 2. Danish String Quartet-Last Leaf. Label: ECM Records. Nowadays, the Danish String Quartet is regarded by many critics as the most exciting young string quartets in Europe, if not the world. They’ve been breathing new life and meaning into contemporary compositions and the classical repertoire. However, when the …

The Best Nordic Wave Releases Of 2017. Hakon Stene and Kristine Tjogersen Michael Pisaro-Asleep, Street, Pipes, Tones. Michael Pisaro’s Asleep, Street, Pipes, Tones’ is a quite beautiful electro-acoustic composition which features seventeen short movements lasting just over an hour. It was reinterpreted and recreated with care and accuracy by Håkon Stene and Kristine Tjøgersen, who …

The Best Nordic Wave Releases Of 2017-Part 4. Motorpsycho-The Tower. Label: Rune Grammofon. When Motorpsycho released The Tower in 2017, it marked the debut of Tomas Järmyr, who became Motorpsycho’s fourth drummer in the band’s twenty-eight year history. He played his part in the creative birth of creative rebirth of Motorpsycho, and ensured that their vintage …

Klaus Schulze-Ballet 1 and 2 and Ballet 3 and 4. Label: MIG Music. By the winter of 2000, Berlin School pioneer Klaus Schulze was fifty-three, and had already been making music for thirty-one years. He had achieved a lot over during a career that had already spanned four decades, and was regarded as one of …

Yasuaki Shimizu-Music For Commercials: Made To Measure Volume 12. Label: Crammed Discs. Thirty years ago, in 1987, Marc Hollander’s label, Crammed Discs, released an album that went on become one of their most sought after releases. This was Yasuaki Shimizu’s Music For Commercials, which featured a total of twenty-four tracks. Twenty-three of them were short …

Ólafur Arnalds-Eulogy For Evolution. Label: Erased Tapes Records. When most people reach the age of thirty, it’s a time when they take stock, and reflect on what they’ve achieved so far. When composer, multi-instrumentalist and BAFTA-award- winning producer Ólafur Arnalds looked back at the first thirty years of his life, there was much to celebrate. He …